The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread

This is a discussion on The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread within Motorbikes, part of the BHP India category; KTM Mekhri circle has received around 30 dukes, so bikes will be delivered in the coming week.
Thankfully, i'll be ...

KTM Mekhri circle has received around 30 dukes, so bikes will be delivered in the coming week.
Thankfully, i'll be getting the bike (Which I had booked for my relative, which I'll have it for a month or so) on comming week (Probably by Wed.)

KTM Mekhri circle has received around 30 dukes, so bikes will be delivered in the coming week.
Thankfully, i'll be getting the bike (Which I had booked for my relative, which I'll have it for a month or so) on comming week (Probably by Wed.)

One of my friend who had booked in june end has got his 390 yesterday.

Any suggestions on how to break in the 390? Stick to the manufacturer's guidelines? What about motoman method? It attracts lots of attention in various forums. Any experience of views?

Regarding the run-in I would recommend to stick to the manufacturer's guidelines as they know their machines better than us. Just ride sanely and keep the rpms fluctuating and try to avoid cruising on highways for long time. Riding through city works well for running in a new engine. BTW, are you among the first six who will be getting their bikes this week?

Regarding the run-in I would recommend to stick to the manufacturer's guidelines as they know their machines better than us.

Their recommendation is ride below a speed till 1000kms..And suddenly the engine is run in. How is that possible. How come a bike becomes eligible for high rev's and speed suddenly after 1000kms per say.

Simply advice once someone gave me was, ride how ever you want to inside the city. Just means rev hard, ride hard for you get very short stretch to do this and that helps in running in the engine.

Their recommendation is ride below a speed till 1000kms..And suddenly the engine is run in. How is that possible. How come a bike becomes eligible for high rev's and speed suddenly after 1000kms per say.

Simply advice once someone gave me was, ride how ever you want to inside the city. Just means rev hard, ride hard for you get very short stretch to do this and that helps in running in the engine.

No manufacturer in the world is willing to say the exact run-in procedure. If your bike runs well for more than a decade then you will probably won't buy another for long. So sales will fall for the manufacturers. So they can only afford just 1000 kms of run-in. All engines continues its running in process till up to 4k kms if taken good care and adopted the proper method of run-in. Well built engines such as Harleys take much longer to complete the run-in because the engine refuses to accept wear and tear that easily.
So it takes longer for the pistons and seals to seat in. And like most other bikes the D390 too takes about 4000 kms to render a 100 percent ran-in engine. I can say this from my personal experience. After I bought by CBZ xtreme I babied her for more than 4k kms by not going above 40 km/hr. Now the bike is 5 years old and odo shows 53k kms and still beats a brand new pulsar 150 in acceleration without much effort. All my friends who had various bikes sold theirs before 3 years because of significant loss in performance. All of them just ripped their bikes after first service, thinking that the run-in is over. This easily proves that the running in is not a sudden process nor it gets completed in just one thousand kms. The second service is the best time to start pushing your bike to higher speeds. So its better to take good care of the engine and riding smoothly by respecting and exploring the bike a couple of months or even four because its a ticket for years of grin on your face.

Had been to KTM Mekhri circle today. Their deliveries stand at 39 including the 5 which is being readied for today.
The RC reached yesterday through post and I was taken aback when I saw the model as Duke200 instead of 390. However all other details including the chassis nr. Engine nr. were correct. The showroom has taken back my RC with the promise of getting it corrected.

The way I see it.... 4k kms @40kmph.... that's forever for me. Except the first ride to home the conventional wisdom took over. It's just that I cannot accept sudden change in speed based on 1000...2000 kms.

KTM-Bundgarden got an additional load of 15 bikes this week. I think Duke is slowest in terms of delivery in hometown Pune :(
No commitments on delivery date. Sometime end of this month I guess for me.

The way I see it.... 4k kms @40kmph.... that's forever for me. Except the first ride to home the conventional wisdom took over. It's just that I cannot accept sudden change in speed based on 1000...2000 kms.

You know, the concept of the first 50 odd kms being critical for loading-unloading of the rings against the fresh hone to the point where the rings and the peaks break in against each other and form the perfect seal, as well as heat cycling etc. - all these are written more from the point of view of freshly (re)built engines. The first few high rpm pulls by the mechanic after first start-up more often than not itself do 80% of the ring seal work.

For factory fresh bikes, especially "Ready To Race" quality KTM motors, most if not all of this is already done fresh off the assembly line, where the bikes are pulled to redline far more violently than any owner would ever do. Even the really violent ones!

I'm not an expert on running in, and have more than my share of failures on fresh builds on my Bullets (more thanks to wrong/too tight clearances and metallurgy and machining than my own fault - but then, that's me talking), but overall what I find best while running in a new bike, is to go more by sound and feel. Keep listening to the engine note. Be perceptible to how "tight" or "free" the motor feels as it warms up and as you progress into your ride.

The motor tells you when its not well. It also tells you when it is ready (or not). The mistake most of us do is push through that feel and let our minds and what we read on the Net and books take over. Plus the huge muddle of differing advice. And push when we should not. Or baby excessively when the engine is crying out for increasing load.

Another trick I learnt from a close friend is to wear half cut gloves when breaking in the motor and at intervals bending down to the side and using your fingers to feel the crankcase and gauge the temperature. Of course that is bike specific and differs from bike to bike, model to model, but when you ride Bullets for 10+ years, you definitely know what an overheating timing cover feels like!

Got my 390 yesterday. Above anything, I like the versatility of the bike most. Suits any mood or riding style. Thanks a lot Doc for the advice. I would have gone for an RE, otherwise. Regarding running in, I am neither babying it nor ripping it. It's riding as usual. Hope I will cross the run in threshold soon.